Sooner or Later
by noothernames
Summary: Santana knew she had to get Brittany back, it hurt too much to see her with Artie. But with every attempt at redemption failing terribly and Sectionals on the horizon, will she be able to recover their relationship? Brittana. Based on Special Education.
1. Chapter 1

Hey guys, this is my first Glee fanfiction that I've actually put up, so thanks for reading this. First of all, let me give you a few notes about the story. This came about after reading some spoilers about the upcoming episode "Special Education" and seeing the previews for the episode. I will be including the spoilers into this story, and a rumour or two I've heard, along with what I want to happen in the episode. Basically the loss of Brittana moments in the recent episodes has made me sad so I am skewing my predictions for this episode in Brittana's favour (not that it will actually happen, but hey a girl can dream, right?). The main players in this will be Santana and Rachel, but separately because I'm not much of a Pezberry fan. Last note: I'm hoping to get all of this out before Tuesday's episode airs, so stay tuned!

Things were not alright in Santana Lopez's mind. Besides the fact that even a smurf like Rachel Berry thought that she was a loser for not having a boyfriend, she had an even bigger problem. The fact was that even though she thought of herself as the perfect embodiment of callousness, to her horror, she now felt herself have feelings other than superiority and disdain. She could hardly believe it herself but she was now feeling guilt and pity. For one Rachel Berry. It might have been the way that Finn couldn't even man up and admit to his girlfriend about how he wasn't exactly a virgin, or maybe it was the way that Berry had smiled lovingly up at Finn during Carol's vows at the wedding, completely oblivious to the fact that Finn would rather be comfortable than be honest with her. Whatever it was, it made Santana tense and incredibly uncomfortable, because if there was one person she would rather not think about more than necessary, it was Manhands. So this guilt and pity that broiled in her stomach was what made Santana go up to Rachel after Glee club (once everyone else left so no one could see her do it) and tell her what she did.

"Buckle up, Old Spice, because I have some bad news for you."

Rachel looked so shocked at the fact that Santana was talking to her one-on-one that she didn't even twitch at the new name she'd given her. She recovered quickly, however and replied in her particularly annoying way of speaking.

"I would greatly doubt the veracity of any 'bad news' coming from you. Especially if this is to inform me that you and Mercedes plan to overshadow me at sectionals by performing a duet, as I have already informed Mr Schuester that Finn and I will be performing 'Time of my life' from Dirty Dancing." Rachel said, smirking in a self-satisfied way.

Santana rolled her eyes and forced herself to bite back the reel of soul-crushing insults she had ready in her mind. She was trying to be considerate here, for the first time in her life, and Berry wasn't making it easy for her. If she got through this maybe she would be nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.

"Listen Berry, as much as I want to rip you a new one over your undeserved sense of entitlement, I have something important that you need to know, since your boyfriend refuses to tell you."

Rachel quickly dropped her crossed arms and confrontational look. She paused for a moment and suddenly looked more than a little vulnerable.

"What is it?"

Santana now almost understood Finn's reluctance to tell Rachel the truth; she looked as though any bad news could break her perfect little world to pieces. Trying to put on a sympathetic face, Santana went on, "Remember last year when you were with Jesse and Finn tried to make you jealous with me? He told you nothing happened, right?

Rachel nodded and, once again, felt guilty for having misled the boy into thinking that she had spent the night with the Vocal Adrenaline star. Seeing Rachel's mixed emotions, Santana took a breath and readied herself for the backlash.

" Well he was lying to you, we slept together." She blurted out.

Rachel just stared at her, wide-eyed for a moment. But soon her eyes hardened into a glare.

"You're lying to me. You think I don't know what's going on? You may think that I don't remember, but last week you clearly told me that I was going to pay for not including you in the glee girls with boyfriends group. I keep a detailed account of every threat made to me in my diary in order to be able to handle the situation when said threats come to fruition. You're just jealous because you're the only glee girl without a boyfriend since Mercedes started dating Anthony Rashad." Rachel told her, pointedly.

"Listen, I know said that, but I'm not-"

Rachel cut her off.

"So now that Finn and I are so happy in our relationship and your friends are all paired up, you feel the need to instil doubt in my mind, perhaps in hope of the self-destruction of the relationship, leaving Finn available to date you. But it's not going to work, the bond between Finn and I is too strong, and it won't work with any of the others either, even Brittany isn't entertaining your weird romantic friendship anymore."

This sucked, though she had initially entertained the idea of taking Finn for her own, Santana had genuinely just wanted to let Berry know the truth and now she was being called a loser that couldn't get a boyfriend. But something in particular out of that rant struck her.

"I'm _not_ lying. And what do you know about my friendship with Britt? What do you know about friends, period?" Okay, she wasn't going to get that Peace Prize, but she tried.

"Ever notice that as soon as she started dating Artie she started to act differently around you? In club you rarely sit together anymore and the annoying canoodling you two got up to in the back row has completely stopped. She's moved on from you and now you're left bitter and alone. Sad."

The diva had turned vindictive, obviously trying to hurt Santana, which wouldn't have hurt so much if it wasn't all true.

"Whatever, Berry. I was trying to help you realize that your man's playing you, but obviously when it comes to him you'd rather believe any garbage he throws at you. And anyway if I was just jealous I would have said all this in front of everyone in Glee club, or maybe at the wedding when I was initially going to tell you, since public humiliation is the best form of punishment." Santana said, smiling self-confidently.

Rachel frowned and looked conflicted. She opened her mouth to let loose another stream of speech, but the cheerleader cut her off.

"Think about that the next time Finn tells you that he loves being a virgin with you." She said before sauntering out of the room.

She kept up her strut until she reached her locker. She opened it up and reached to grab a few books before dropping her head in a sigh. More feelings. Gross.

Okay so when Puck got out of juvie they hadn't exactly rushed into each other's arms like in a romance movie. But really neither of them was the romantic type. In fact she had hardly felt a thing when she first saw him again. Except maybe horniness. So she had rushed into his bed again and that's what they were to each other now: sex. Puck wasn't her boyfriend and she wasn't sure that she wanted him to be, either. Though it had really sucked the other day seeing the other girls at their secret meeting, so satisfied and confident with their boyfriends. In particular, it had been hard seeing Brittany. Santana had tolerated Wheels and Brittany's relationships lately because she figured that it would be as short-lived as all of Brittany's relationships tended to be, especially since every single sweater vest Artie wore seemed to come from Mr Schue's reject drawer. She had thought that the blonde was just doing the same thing with Artie that Santana was doing with Puck, using the football player for status and sex. But it seemed like Brittany actually liked this joke of a football player, and if Tina's pissed-off attitude lately was any indication, it was getting serious.

The cheerleader snapped out of her thoughts and shoved the books into her backpack. She closed the locker and made her way to the parking lot to drive home. Of course Brittany wasn't waiting for her anywhere, she thought, bitterly. She had probably gotten a ride with Artie when his father had come to pick him up. The Brittany and Artie thing had changed a lot of things about their friendship. Rachel was right, there was no "canoodling" going on, neither innocent nor otherwise. In fact she and the blonde hadn't done anything physical together since the night that Santana told her that she wasn't in love with her. She had been so sexually frustrated lately that it had been extremely easy to fall back into her regular pattern with Puck, even with him being so disrespectful of her.

The reality of the situation was that she just missed how she and Brittany used to be together all the time. She missed her sweet lady kisses. She missed feeling like someone completely understood who she was.

She slumped into her car and put her bag down on the passenger's seat heavily. She blankly stared ahead of her without making move to turn the ignition.

She didn't have to accept this. Any of this. She didn't have to accept Rachel not believing her and basically calling her a boyfriend-less loser. She didn't have to settle for Puck because he was available and she didn't have to try to steal Finn. She didn't have to put up with Brittany pulling away from her and falling for Wheels. She would change this, she would be able to fix all of this. She just needed a plan.

After letting loose on Santana Rachel had gone home in a huff. She had responded to her parents' greeting upon her return home with little more than a noncommittal grunt. She had stomped up the stair to her room and thrown her books wherever they may land. She dropped onto her bed and buried her head in the pillow and here she was, an hour later, still in the same position. Just thinking. Thinking that Santana had probably been telling the truth.

She sighed and rolled onto her back. It hurt, it really hurt. Everything had been going so perfect with Finn ever since he had told her that he loved her at Regionals. There was just the matter of her insecurity about him wanting to be with a Cheerio instead of her. At the time it had proven to be unwarranted, but now she looked at the situation with new eyes. While she was worrying about a Cheerio seducing Finn she had no idea that it had already happened. Finn had lied to her about Santana and didn't even have the decency to come clean with her, while she had confessed that she hadn't slept with Jesse St. James. Rachel thought Santana must have been telling the truth since she didn't usually put up with Rachel's rants, even when they weren't so very insulting. She winced when she remembered some of the things she had told the cheerleader. If Santana had truly told her all this out of some kind of concern for her well-being, despite her insensitive execution, then Rachel would have to apologize and thank her. After she confronted Finn, that is.

She shook her head. She needed some distraction or else she was going to go crazy or cry for several hours or both. She grabbed her cell phone from her bedside table and dialled a number.

"Hello?"

Rachel smiled at hearing the voice.

"Kurt, hey. It's Rachel."

Ever since they performed their duet together, Rachel had been feeling a type of kinship with the boy. Really, it was surprising that they just recently got close considering they seemed to enjoy all the same things. Although when she had told Kurt this, he had cited her propensity towards wearing sweaters with animals on them and excessive argyle as being a major factor in the delay. And now that the boy had officially been attending Dalton for a week, she felt the need to be there for him to remind him that he was still a part of the New Directions family, even if he chose to join the Warblers. They chatted for a bit about their excitement for Sectionals and the gossip that Kurt has missed since leaving, and of course Kurt talked about Blaine for ages. But then tentatively, he asked the question that he must have been thinking all week.

"Have you seen Karofsky?"

Rachel paused, thinking of the best way to put it all.

"He... he's been kind of laying low. He's been avoiding running into anyone from glee, probably because everyone in the club has been staring him down all week. Even Coach Sylvester, you should have seen how mad she was." Rachel told him.

"Oh." Was all he said in response.

"Do you think... you might come back? It seems like he's going to back down and we could keep you safe."

Kurt sighed.

"I don't think so. I mean I miss you all so much, but Dalton is so much safer for me. I feel like I'm always holding my breath in McKinley and in Dalton I'm finally able to exhale. I can just be myself, you know. I don't trust a guy like Karofsky to ever back down, he has too many issues and lets his emotions control everything. I'm sorry Rach."

Rachel frowned when Kurt was talking about Karofsky's issues, obviously she didn't have the whole story and it didn't seem as though Kurt was willing to share it with her quite yet. She let it go as an idea struck her.

"Kurt, are you busy on Saturday?"

"No, I don't believe so, why?"

"Come over to my place, I'll invite everyone over and we can have a New Directions pre-sectionals get-together. Everyone misses you and we want to let you know that you're still one of us even if you compete against us. It'll be fun." Rachel said, enthusiastically.

Kurt smiled and chuckled slightly.

"I know it must be hard to lose a gem like me. Alright, I accept." He said dramatically.

After a bit more chatting she hung up the phone and was once more left to her thoughts. Excitement swirled in her mind, intermingling with anxiety over Finn and Santana. Hopefully everything would work out for the best. But even as she thought that, she felt as though they were on a run-away train about to smash right into a mess of drama.


	2. Chapter 2

Author's Note: Thanks everyone that has reviewed the story or added it to their alerts! Not a ton of reviews yet, but that just means I have to step it up with my chapters I guess. This story is taking me slightly longer to write than anticipated and so I'm not sure that it will be done before Tuesday's episode airs, especially considering I have a Spanish essay on Quiroga due soon. So if this story turns out to be vastly different from the actual episode you'll just have to bear with me. There's a bit of Faberry in this chapter, because it's quickly becoming one of my favourite pairings. There's not too much Faberry, but it's there. Anyway, enjoy!

* * *

"We have a big problem."

Artie looked up from his locker to find a pissed looking Tina staring down at him. More importantly, however, was what she was wearing. She had her hair done up in two pig-tails, with goggles strapped to her head and she was wearing a black shirt that had a bullhorn and the letters "GC" on it. Combined with her arm warmers, it seemed to be some kind of Goth cheerleader outfit.

"Is the problem your outfit?"

She did not seem to find this statement funny.

"The problem is that Brittany seems to think that you two are getting serious." She said, confrontationally.

He had to stop himself from smirking when he realized the real "problem". He arched an eyebrow at her before replying.

"So maybe we are, why do you care?" He said, taking his books and closing the door.

"I care because when we were together we were going to wait to have sex. We were going to have it mean something. And now it seems like you and Brittany are together for two days and you've already done it." Tina said, failing to keep the bitterness out of her speech.

Artie felt the prickling of shame creep up his neck. They had been waiting, and it was a mutual agreement between them. They wanted to be sure that they would last as a couple before the finally lost their virginity together.

"Not that it surprises me, since Britt dips into everyone, even Kurt."

The shame quickly turned into anger.

"He was telling everyone that he was straight! And anyway it's not like you and Mike haven't done anything, with you practically drooling over his six-pack all the time." He spat out.

Tina looked at him evenly.

"No. We haven't done anything yet."

They were silent for a moment.

"Do you love her? Do you even like her? Or do you just think you do because she was there to take your virginity instead of me?"

"The important thing was that she was there, Tina. You weren't. You were the one that gave up on us." Artie accused.

"No, you gave up when you decided that I wasn't a priority in your life. Maybe if you had spent more time with me over the summer instead of playing video games we would have been ready to have sex and I would have loved you too much to even think about Mike." Her voice wavered, but her face remained emotionless.

Tina turned soundlessly and marched away, the hand she brought up to her face the only indication of her emotional state.

* * *

"Brittany."

The blonde turned from her locker, where she had been vacantly staring in hopes of remembering which class she had next, to look into the brown eyes that seemed to pierce through her. Which was kind of funny because that was her last name: Pierce. Brittany's last name, that is.

"Hey Santana." She greeted her friend happily.

Before she started dating Artie she would have hugged Santana or held her hand, or shown some kind of affection for her. Santana felt the sting of this loss. She wanted the other girl to hug her. She couldn't stand the thought that she was now just a friend, a person that Brittany might come to for advice on the more important relationship in her life.

"We need to talk." She said with an ominous tone.

Brittany's eyebrows hitched in confusion and concern.

"What about?"

"Brittany, it's been a couple weeks, why are you still with Wheels?"

The blonde frowned.

"I like him. He wears clothes that look like my grandpa's." She said defensively, as though this were a legitimate reason to date someone.

"Come on, he's not even a real football player. All he does is get wheeled around all over the field while everyone on the other team tries to not to hit the wheelchair kid."

"Do you have a point? Because you're making me angry and I'm going to walk away soon." Brittany said, fists balling at her sides in anger.

Santana softened her approach, seeing that she was doing more harm than good at this rate.

"But don't you miss me? Don't you miss what we used to have? Wasn't that the reason you went to Artie in the first Place, so you could make me jealous?"

Brittany slammed her locker shut and glared at her. Santana had never seen her so mad.

"It was just sex, Santana. Sex. You told me so yourself. And now you have Puck, so why do you even care about me and Artie?" The blonde spat out.

The brunette flinched slightly. This was all going wrong. Why couldn't she ever say the right things?

"Listen, I'm sorry I said that. It wasn't just sex for me. And maybe I don't want Puck."

The words hung in the air for a moment, along with the unspoken ones: I want _you_. Brittany calmed down a bit, the anger being replaced with sadness.

"The whole point of this is that I wasn't special to you." She said, dejectedly.

"No, Britt, you were special to me! You still are." Santana tried, unsuccessfully, to pour all her feelings into those words without really saying how she felt.

"Maybe. Until you get bored."

And with that Brittany left her, wandering off to whichever class she decided that she had. Even when Santana was trying to get her back, she still couldn't be upfront with her feelings. She couldn't express that what she really meant when she said "I'm not in love with you" back in Brittany's room was "I'm in love with you". She felt her cell phone go off and opened it, suddenly annoyed. It was a text from Berry, saying "Party at my house Saturday! Kurt's going to be there so bring your party hats!" She had to laugh at that, despite her mood, even Berry's texts were annoyingly chipper. Maybe she could talk to Brittany at the party, even though Berry and Wheels will probably be insufferable. This time she wouldn't screw up.

* * *

Maybe she had been overly optimistic about the powers of a good party. Santana had been trying to talk to Brittany all night, rather unsuccessfully. The blonde had been glued to Artie since the very start of the party. Santana thought maybe they were a little _too_ close, but that might have just been in her head. They had all had a heartfelt reunion with Kurt. Even if it had only been a week since he had left them, Santana had to admit that glee club just didn't feel right without him, especially since they had to recruit that creepy A/V club girl as a replacement member for the upcoming sectionals. They had grilled him about whether Dalton was really worth the tuition and if he and Blaine were a couple yet (the answer: not yet). At some point in the conversation she saw that Brittany had gone to the kitchen to get something to drink and she rose to go after her but before she could make it she was accosted by Rachel. She had pulled Santana into the bathroom to talk.

"My god Berry, I do _not_ need people thinking I'm feeling you up in here."

The diva had reddened considerably at that, but managed to compose a reply.

"Santana, I just wanted to apologize for not believing what you told me the other day. Now that I am not encumbered by emotion, I can see that you were being sincere."

Santana rolled her eyes but she was a bit taken aback and, dare she say, pleased at the admission. She was glad that the verbal whiplash she had taken wasn't for nothing.

"I am deeply sorry for the things I said. I shouldn't have lorded my relationship with Finn over you. You are not bitter and alone, you have Puck and Brittany, and all of us." Rachel told her, trying to sound comforting.

Santana frowned slightly. In actuality, she didn't have Puck and her last conversation with the girl proved that she most certainly didn't have Brittany. She felt the prickle of unwanted emotions in the corner of her eyes and she rubbed at them distractedly.

"Yeah, don't worry about it, Berry." She couldn't bring herself to say Manhands.

She straightened herself up and put a hand on her hip as she stared at the shorter girl.

"So, what are you going to say to Finn? I'm assuming you two haven't had this conversation yet since Frankenteen seems to be blissfully unaware of any drama."

The shorter girl bit her lip and looked down.

"I don't know. I don't know what I want to say to him. I don't know if I can be okay with him having lied to me, it makes a precedent for dishonesty. Now there will always be doubt in the back of my mind that I will have to deal with."

Santana stiffly patted Rachel's shoulder in an attempt at comfort.

"It'll be fine. You're the perfect couple. Don't think about all that right now and just enjoy the party." She said, wanting to get back so she could find Brittany.

The diva smiled at her warmly and Santana regretted her impatience with the girl.

"You're right, thanks Santana."

The girl ushered them out of the bathroom and back into the living room. It seems as though they had been missed, since the gossip had dried up while they were gone. Rachel, happy to play the part of the good host, decided the best thing to amuse everyone was to have Kurt join her in a duet of "Don't cry for me Argentina" from the musical Evita. Santana kept to the background, a light smile adorning her face.

"What were you guys doing in the bathroom together? And for so long?"

The latina started at the sound, she hadn't noticed Brittany come up next to her. The blonde was staring at her intently, a mixture of jealousy and something else in her eyes.

"Nothing, she just wanted to talk. I mean this is Rachel Berry, there's not enough bleach in the world that could disinfect me if I ended up hooking up with her." Santana assured her, lapsing back into her usual insulting of the girl.

Brittany nodded and went to move away but Santana stopped her with a hand on her forearm.

"But the person I really wanted to talk to was _you_. Britt, I haven't been honest with you."

The blonde looked back at her in surprise. She let Santana hold her hand and pull her closer.

"I like you. I like you a lot. And I let myself worry too much about what other people were going to say about me liking a girl to realize that nobody else should matter. I want you and it really hurts seeing you with Artie."

Santana waited, expectantly. She had laid it out, what she thought she would never be able to say aloud. And now the only thing she needed was Brittany to say those words back, to say she would dump Artie, to be hers.

"It's not that easy, Santana." Brittany whispered, as though she knew what the other girl had been thinking.

"Why couldn't you have told me this from the start? Why did you have to wait until I started dating Artie again?" She continued, sounding conflicted and hurt.

Santana couldn't look Brittany in the eye, so she cast her glance down to her shoes instead. She felt as though she had swallowed a brick that was slowly pulling her stomach down with its weight.

"I'm sorry. I know I'm a screw-up. Just forget I said anything."

Brittany looked like she wanted to say more but she was interrupted by Rachel making an announcement.

"Now that you have all heard that classic song done justice by Kurt and me, I would like to segue into a party activity that my research has said is quite typical within our age group." She announced, ever dramatic.

She reached down into a paper bag labelled 'Party Supplies' and produced an empty glass pop bottle.

"Let's play Spin-the-bottle."

A few people groaned at the cliché, while others looked worriedly at their boyfriends or girlfriends. Only Puck looked particularly enthused by the idea.

"Really, Rachel? We're not in junior high anymore." Mercedes said.

Rachel seemed quite disappointed by the group's lack of interest.

"But I've never played it before! I've never had friends to invite me to parties like this, especially in junior high." She said, with regret.

The group looked at each other uncomfortably. They knew that Rachel never really had friends before glee club, and even last year none of them had made much of an effort to befriend the girl. They couldn't take back the years of neglect and bullying but maybe playing along with this harmless game could make up for it.

"But still, most of us are in relationships. This isn't really the best game to play." Mike said nervously, he had seen Tina and Artie exchanging looks that put him ill at ease.

Rachel seemed to have been anticipating this, however. She waved off his concerns.

"Well what's a kiss or two between friends? You'll just have to keep the kisses tame and it doesn't harm anyone, right?"

They looked at one another as though wondering how much could really go wrong. Finally, they all agreed to play. They sat in a wide circle on the carpet and placed the bottle in the middle. Mercedes spun the bottle first, landing on Sam.

"Don't worry, mama. I'm not going to steal your man." The girl told Quinn.

The cheerleader rolled her eyes and smiled, giving her the unspoken consent. Sam and Mercedes shared an innocent kiss and it was now Tina's turn to spin the bottle. The bottle ended up pointing to Artie and the group held its breath, looking from Tina to Mike to Artie. Mike glared slightly at Rachel, as though she had rigged the bottle herself. Tina moved across the circle to the boy and they shared a kiss that was not exactly chaste, but just on the border of being inappropriate. Tina didn't look at Mike when she returned to her seat, while Artie shot an apologetic look to Brittany, who couldn't have seemed less concerned.

"My turn!" Rachel announced enthusiastically.

Santana rolled her eyes at the girl, but was interested in how this was going to play out. Maybe Rachel was looking to punish Finn with an eager kiss with someone else in the group. But would the girl really do that to him? The bottle spun a few times and started slowing. For a second Santana thought that it was going to stop on her. That would have been the worst possible situation, she thought. But when the bottle finally stopped, she saw that it could have been worse. The bottle now pointed at Quinn, who stared at it in disbelief. Rachel was going to have to kiss Quinn, the instigator of so many injuries done to the diva. The slushies, the name-calling, the pornographic pictures on bathroom walls, all performed at the head cheerleader's command. And Quinn was going to have to kiss Rachel, who had tried so many times to steal Finn away and had eventually been the one to reveal that Quinn was actually pregnant with Puck's child. The tension in the room was thick enough to cut with a knife.

"Yeah! Do it!" Puck shouted, rather inelegantly.

Rachel hesitated, looking to the other girl in question.

"Come on Berry, it's not a big deal. Let's just get it over with." Quinn said, nonchalantly.

Rachel nodded nervously and made her way over to Quinn. They paused for a second and then Rachel leaned her face up to Quinn's and their lips met. Many of the boys let out a whoop of encouragement as their lips worked against each other's pleasantly. Quinn brought up her hands to cup the brunette's face as their kissing grew in fervour. Santana shot a look at Finn's reaction to the kiss that was daringly dipping into PG-13 territory and he had a growing frown on his face, looking put out. Finally the pair drew away from each other, their eyes seeming to be slightly glazed from the event. Santana cleared her throat loudly and Rachel practically leapt back to her spot in the circle. Quinn now wore a slight smirk, while Rachel blushed and looked away. It was Puck's turn next, and his excitement was palpable as he gave the bottle a vigorous spin. He seemed let down when the bottle pointed to Kurt and not one of the girls, but he made no fuss and kissed the boy chastely.

It was now Santana's turn. She twisted the bottle harshly and made eye contact with Brittany as it revolved. The blonde smiled at her warmly and Santana couldn't help the quickening of her heart or the dull beat of blood in her ears. The bottle slowed slightly, swinging past Brittany, and then coming back to her. Santana held her breath as she followed its movement raptly. She could kiss Brittany, in front of everyone, and Britt would be able to see how much she felt for her. Artie would be able to see that he was no competition and would back off. If only the bottle stopped at the right person. But the bottle didn't stop at the blonde, it went by her one last time and settled, pointing to Finn. Finn looked at her with fear in his eye, utterly paralyzed and Santana couldn't bring herself to move. They sat frozen for so long that their awkwardness drew a good amount of suspicion from those in the group who were ignorant of the fact that the two had had sex.

"Go on, Finn. It's not like you two haven't done worse with each other." Rachel said, sardonically.

Finn's eyes connected with hers in panic as his mouth gaped unattractively. He shot an accusing look to Santana.

"You told her?"

The cheerleader resisted the urge to run out of the room. She refused to feel guilty, this was not her fault. Rachel dragged the disconcerted boy to the kitchen, which did little to muffle the yells between the two as their argument came to a peak. The rest of the group, save Brittany who was the only one who already knew the story, looked to Santana questioningly. She sighed and explained what had happened seemingly ages ago in order to prevent her teammates from making up ludicrous theories involving her being a home wrecker. That being done, and with their host for the evening being tied up for who knows how long, it was silently agreed that the party was over. They said their goodbyes to each other and made their respective ways home. This party that had supposed to have been about bonding with each other had mostly just frayed established bonds. Artie and Tina shared a look once more, while Mike huffed nearby. Quinn threw a worried glance towards the kitchen, while toying with Sam's promise ring. And Brittany gave Santana a look she just couldn't read. Was it regret, love, disappointment? As the blonde passed by Santana towards the door, she gave her hand a light squeeze and lingered slightly before dropping it. The latina stared at the girl as she passed through the door and out into the night. Why was it that every time they parted, she feared that it would be forever?


	3. Chapter 3

Author's note: Guess who fails at updating? Me! Sorry about that. Glee was depressing me with Bartie. This is the last chapter. Thanks for the reviews, alerts, favourites. I hope this last chapter is alright. Anyway, enjoy!

* * *

The next glee meeting was, in a word, tense. Finn and Rachel were sitting at opposite ends of the room, concentrated on not looking over at each other. Quinn sat not too far from the brunette, not directly next to her, but close enough that she could study the girl intently. Sam sat next to her as usual, oblivious of where her attention lie concentrated. Tina and Mike were not sitting together, Mike held a bitter look on his face and seemed to not be able to unclench his jaw. Tina, however did not seem upset, she kept throwing looks over to Artie, who kept looking up to meet her eyes, slightly wistfully. He was sitting next to Brittany, who couldn`t help paying attention to Santana, a few seats away from her. The latina had been trying to silently communicate with her through her eyes. She had wanted to convey "I miss you", "I need you", and, above all, "I'm sorry", but it seemed as though she was doing little more than confusing the blonde. She opted to just give her a genuine smile, which Brittany returned, although her smile wasn't quite as big as Santana's, revealing the conflicting emotions she felt.

Brittany had a hard time believing that Santana really felt any real connection to her, despite the girl's words to the contrary. She couldn't get the image of Santana pulling away from her, telling her that she was a simple replacement for Puck, that she didn't love her. It was like Brittany was a paper plate, easily disposable, while Puck was fine china. It had hurt her more than that time that she got an F in a math exam because she hadn't bothered studying and her mother had told her that she was incredibly disappointed with her. Actually, it felt much worse than that time. And now that Santana was trying so hard to get her attention she felt like there had to be a catch. Like maybe Santana only wanted her because Brittany had Artie now. Sure, the boy wasn't perfect. In fact there were many times where the boy would say something that made Brittany feel like he thought she was stupider than she actually was. Santana never treated her like an idiot, nor did she feel the need to guide the blonde through life, as Artie seemed to want to, she instead supported her friend when she needed it. Last week in geography Artie had flipped the pages of her textbook to the appropriate one for her, as if she wouldn't have known how to find page 168 without him. And he was now in the habit of photocopying his notes for her, with the "complicated" words crossed out and replaced with simpler terms. In a way it was sweet, but mostly it caused her stomach to clench uncomfortably.

She looked over to her boyfriend, who was preoccupied with something over his shoulder. That was one thing that he could give her that Santana never could, the fact that Brittany could openly call him her boyfriend. Santana might say that she likes her but she doubted that the girl would ever call Brittany her girlfriend. With Artie there was never any doubt, any hesitance. Everyone knew that they were a couple and he wasn't afraid to let it show. She and Santana had had their touchy moments, but there had always been a line that they didn't cross in front of others. And so everyone had just taken their pinkie linking and light touches to be a sign of their close friendship, rather than anything else. Santana probably wanted to go back to that kind of relationship. Best friends with benefits. But it just wasn't enough for Brittany anymore. She wanted Santana to be her girlfriend, she wanted Santana to sit in her lap like the she did with Artie, and she wanted to be able to kiss her without the other girl panicking that someone would see. She would never have any of that with her because Santana could never acknowledge publicly that she had feelings for Brittany that might put her sexuality in question. She looked quickly back to the brunette, but then resolved to not look at her for the rest of the meeting. Why should she torture herself with what-ifs when she had her boyfriend by her side? Though he wasn't paying her any attention at the moment.

She was distracted from wondering what was in the note that Artie had just passed Tina by the appearance of Mr Schue.

"Sorry I'm a bit late, guys. We need to get our set-list down today, it's absolutely the last day we can leave it if we want to be ready to compete next week. So, we already know that Rachel and Finn will be singing 'Time of my Life', and now we just- uh yes, Rachel?" He asked her, as he noticed her raised hand.

The diva lowered her hand and kept her eyes down.

"Due to the dissolution of our relationship I no longer wish to sing that song with Finn, so you will have to find a replacement to sing with him."

Finn, looking upset, chimed in.

"I don't want to sing either."

Mr Schuester seemed concerned about the fact that the club's former power couple were unwilling to sing together. He opened his mouth, likely to say something about how it was important to put aside personal issues for the sake of the club, when Rachel interrupted him.

"I would like to personally nominate Quinn and Sam as our replacements. After all, they did win the duets contest."

She threw a smile at Quinn, the first look on her face that day that wasn't a miserable one. Quinn looked quite pleased.

"Okay, what does everyone think about this? No one else wants to audition for the duet parts?" Will asked them all.

Everyone stayed silent. Sam and Quinn quickly agreed to take the parts and they moved onto the next point.

"Alright, now we need another song, does anyone have anything they'd like to try at Sectionals?"

Will looked pointedly at Rachel, fully expecting her to pipe up with at least five different songs, but the brunette kept quiet, seemingly too bothered by her break-up with Finn for her usual opportunism.

"Mr Schue, I have something."

Everyone looked to Santana in surprise. She wished they weren't looking at her like she had grown another head, it was making her even more nervous than she already was. Will beckoned her to the front and she shakily handed Brad the sheet music. As she faced the rest of the club, she saw that Brittany was looking at her attentively. Santana cleared her dry throat and kept the eye contact with the blonde.

"This is for you." She said before starting, although she didn't really need to, Brittany would have known that the song was for her anyway.

_Well sometimes I go out by myself and I look across the water_

_And I think of all the things, what you're doing and in my head I paint a picture_

Santana's voice grew more confident as she sung. It helped that Brittany was suddenly beaming at her, this was one of the blonde's favourite songs and that's partly the reason she chose it.

'_Cause since I've come on home, well my body's been a mess_

Santana has been a mess without her. She has been feeling as though she was walking around missing some essential part of her.

_Why won't you come on over Valerie?_

She didn't care how obvious she might have been about wanting Brittany back, even with Artie being in the room. Although by the looks of it, the jerk seemed to be more interested in Tina than the fact that Santana was after his girlfriend. And the look that Britt was giving her was amazing. It was awe, delight, and love all rolled into one. As she finished the song there was a slight pause but then everyone exploded into applause. Brittany gave her a toothy grin and Santana thought she might throw up out of nerves and happiness. But she didn't actually because now that she thought about it that was really gross and Brittany would probably not want to go out with her after that. When the applause died she made her way to her seat.

"Santana, that was great! Does anyone else want to try for the solo, or can we lock this in for Sectionals?" Will asked.

Mercedes turned to Santana.

"Girl, that was amazing. You deserve this one, I'm not even going to try to compete."

Santana's face heated up from the unexpected compliment. Mercedes usually fought for solos as much as Rachel did and she didn't particularly like Santana so to say that really meant something. Santana smiled and nodded her thanks to the girl.

"Great, it's decided then. Now, for choreography..."

At the end of the meeting Artie turned to Brittany, finally.

"Brittany, we need to talk."

She was watching Santana leave the room slowly, looking back as though she was waiting for Brittany.

"Um yeah okay."

"It's just that I'm trying, I mean really _trying_ to be a good boyfriend to you. But I've realized that my feelings for Tina just run too deep."

Santana paused in the doorway, touching the frame lightly and looking at Brittany in a way that made her shiver in desire.

"Uh-huh." She replied.

"It's not really fair of me to feel like this while I'm with you, so I think it's best if we break up." He paused for her reaction, but she kept looking over at Santana and didn't say a word. "I'm really sorry. I want to stay your friend if you'll let me."

Santana, thinking that the conversation was going to last for a while, finally left. Brittany drooped with disappointment and then she turned to face the boy that had been trying to break up with her.

"That's okay, I already have a friend." She told him.

He looked at her in surprise and concern as she picked up her backpack and hurried out the room, hoping to catch Santana.

* * *

Things between her and Brittany had gone slow after that. Brittany had just broken up with her boyfriend, after all. Not that she seemed to be choked up about it. But after all this time and with these new feelings admitted they became shy, if you could believe it. Santana wanted to, needed to, but just couldn't bring herself to kiss Brittany. She had kissed her countless times, out of heat, out of passion and desire. Kissing her now, though, would have a very different meaning behind it. This kiss would be a promise, a start of something new. And the blonde, though she admitted that she had loved the song, had not exactly told her that she wanted to be with her. What if she was still hurt from how Santana had treated her? What if she didn't trust her? These questions lurked in Santana's mind so that every time she went to kiss Brittany instead she felt herself freeze up. It wasn't until Sectionals came that something changed.

New Directions was sitting in the audience, watching the Warblers sing "Soul Sister". Santana was looking at Rachel, who was silently encouraging Kurt to smile, when she felt it. Brittany had slipped her hand in her own and had intertwined their fingers. The latina looked over to her and Brittany gave her a shy smile before returning her attention to the stage.

Santana felt invincible during her "Valerie" number. She was fierce, unstoppable. Brittany was gorgeous and pulled off amazing dance moves. Forget Finn and Rachel, there was going to be a new glee power couple soon enough, Santana thought, confidently.

Soon the results came in, as a draw between New Directions and the Warblers. Honestly, she was disappointed. The Warblers sang alright, she gave them that, but they didn't dance, just shuffled around. I mean, did the judges see Brittany? She could have danced for the entire club by herself and still have beaten the Warblers' routine. Brittany, however, didn't seem bothered by the tie, in fact she seemed exhilarated. Her hair was down, it spilled down her face in delicate locks and combined with the breathtaking smile on her face, Santana found herself getting caught up in her excitement. Brittany hugged her tightly, pressing the entire length of her body to the other girl's. She vaguely heard the other glee members cheering and talking energetically but as they parted she only had eyes for Brittany. When she saw that they could get away, she grabbed the blonde's hand and ran backstage. Their absence probably wouldn't be noticed in all the celebration. When she was sure they were alone she pulled the blonde into her and pressed their lips together, with moderate pressure. Brittany reacted immediately, deepening the kiss and placing her hands at the other girl's waist. Santana moaned slightly at the feel of Britt's tongue against her own. It had been so long. Too long, she thought. Their bodies however remembered exactly how to fit together. Soon, however, Brittany slowed down the kiss and they reluctantly ended it.

"Britt..." Santana started.

Brittany was panting slightly and Santana felt the hot breath lick her face. She felt a wave of desire shake through her. But it wasn't time for that, she needed to be sure. She opened her mouth to continue but found her words being stolen by the blonde.

"Will you be my girlfriend?" She said quickly.

Santana noticed how tense the other girl was, suddenly. She licked her lips nervously. Brittany seriously thought she was going to say no? Especially after _that_ kiss? Santana linked her arms around the blonde's neck.

"Yes."

She kissed the girl several times, puncturing the kisses with several repetitions of the word "Yes". She felt Brittany smile through the kisses.

"I love you." Santana said, after the last kiss.

"I love you too."

"You know, that wasn't the first song I had in mind when I thought of songs to sing for you." The latina told her.

Brittany looked at her, intrigued by the idea.

"What was the first?" she asked, curiously.

Santana smiled at her lopsidedly and started to sing softly.

_I just want back in your head_

_I just want back in your head_

_I'm not unfaithful, but I'll stray_

_When I get a little scared_

_When I get a little scared..._

Then she stopped and looked up at Brittany.

"I strayed from you because I got scared, Britt. I got scared of what I was feeling. But I promise you that's not going to happen anymore. I don't want to lose you again."

Brittany drew her close and kissed her forehead in response.

"Tegan and Sara? Really, San? That's so gay." She teased.

"Well they're no Melissa Etheridge..." Santana trailed off.

Brittany just kissed her again rather than argue the "gayness" of one artist over another.


End file.
